Gibson writes: "But the oppression isn't coming from just the police. The federal government is now openly embracing totalitarian tactics in suppressing political dissent, including unwarranted surveillance, denial of due process rights, and even psychological warfare."

Chicago police officers watch protesters during a demonstration in downtown Chicago on the eve of the NATO summit, 05/19/12. (photo: Getty Images)

This Is What Tyranny Looks Like

By Carl Gibson, Reader Supported News

21 May 12

Reader Supported News | Perspective

emember when police beat Tea Party activists with batons, raided homes without warrants, unjustly arrested and strip-searched Tea Party protesters, or attacked and intimidated journalists covering Tea Party rallies?

Me neither. But, then again, the Tea Party took to the streets in favor of higher profits and less regulations for the richest 1 percent, whose ranks they hope to but will never join. The media is more than happy to inflate their crowd estimates, and police are more than happy to let pro-status quo protests take to the streets undisturbed. The Tea Party has since phased out street protests to take over a major political party and make it bend to their every radical whim.

While covering the protests, credentialed journalists were attacked by police who used bicycles as weapons.

After a day of covering the protests, three livestreamers were surrounded by Chicago police at gunpoint and had their car and property impounded without cause.

But the oppression isn't coming from just the police. The federal government is now openly embracing totalitarian tactics in suppressing political dissent, including unwarranted surveillance, denial of due process rights, and even psychological warfare:

FBI agents pressured a group of anarchists in Ohio to blow up a bridge on May Day, going so far as to pick out a target and provide the explosives. They were held without bond after their arrest. White supremacists in Florida planning an actual terrorist attack at a May Day protest were outed by state police, and ignored by federal law enforcement. Their bond was set at $500.

The Department of Homeland Security assembled almost 800 pages of documents detailing possibly unconstitutional monitoring of the Occupy movement, and collaboration with city governments.

Congress voted down an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act that would have prohibited the federal government from detaining American citizens indefinitely, without trial, based on pure suspicion. They did so exactly one day after US District Judge Katherine Forrest struck down NDAA detention provisions as unconstitutional. Congress also passed a law allowing protesters to be arrested on felony charges anywhere there is secret service protection, and is actively seeking to lift a ban on the use of propaganda on American citizens.

The Supreme Court ruled in a 5-4 decision to allow invasive and humiliating strip searches for any arrest, no matter the charge (like protesting).

So why the violent police oppression and government suppression of rights? As Dan Rather stated on Bill Maher's program, "Big business is in bed with big government." A great portion of the federal government is sponsored by big corporations, so naturally, nearly every act of Congress and the Supreme Court is done so with the ultimate goal of deregulating industry and maximizing corporate profits at the expense of citizen and consumer rights. These puppets of industry occupying our government will discredit and crack down on anyone trying to stop, delay, or reverse the process by any means necessary.

In 1963, JFK famously said our nation was "... founded on the principle that all men are created equal, and that the rights of every man are diminished when the rights of one man are threatened." The historic street demonstrations of 2012 will be meaningless unless citizens use the power of the vote this year to remove the worst offenders from office. They can start with the Representatives and Senators who voted NO to due process rights.

Carl Gibson, 25, is co-founder of US Uncut, a nationwide creative direct-action movement that mobilized tens of thousands of activists against corporate tax avoidance and budget cuts in the months leading up to the Occupy Wall Street movement. Carl and other US Uncut activists are featured in the documentary "We're Not Broke," which premiered at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival. He currently lives in Old Lyme, Connecticut. You can contact Carl at
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
, and listen to his online radio talk show, Swag The Dog, at blogtalkradio.com/swag-the-dog.

Reader Supported News is the Publication of Origin for this work. Permission to republish is freely granted with credit and a link back to Reader Supported News.

Comments

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Carl,You are fast becoming one of the most important American heroes who are trying to save this country from a fascist take over. Thank you for listing how the vote went. It is easier to vote against the enemies Thank you for all you are doing. This country already owes you a great debt.

Democracy in this nation has seemingly faded to mere lyrics in old patriotic songs and election inspiring buzzwords. The democratic dreams and voice of the masses has been muted and ignored by the cacophony of corporations clamoring for profits. What to do??? how about following Carl's tip in voting out the rats who snubbed the amendment to the NDAA bill! Heads gotta roll in halls of congress. Our torches and pitchfork approach is only met by the police dept. goons wielding pepper spray and billy clubs, collecting overtime pay.

Protest the fact that rich people are generally more aware of the ramifications of Peak Oil...

To allay the hearts of the moneyed class, the general population must take a cram course on the the Middle East (oilpatch) saga now being played out day by day. To understand why more money is not being re-invested in American commerce, understand how close we are to Federal Executive Emergency Orders for motor fuel allocation (Rationing).

Cordesman's (I. S. I. S.) Iran/Syria Egypt/Israel war ramifications show unavoidable impact on oil flows for some period of time after the smoke clears. Individuals wanting to protest fascism might instead consider promoting some changes:

Baby step- throw out zoning that prohibits kitchen gardens in favor of lawns

Baby step- demand all local US Post offices be open at least 5 days/week

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Carpool and consolidate trips, no more teenage and adult use of gasoline as a means of killing time

I fear for this country, because so many people are apathetic and not concerned with the creeping fascism, one freedom at a time. Do they really think that they will be immune from these abuses. Vote the obstructionists out of office, while being vigilant for rampant election fraud.

The Power of the Vote???? Do you mean "The People" get to exercise this great power of theirs every two to four years while the enemies of liberty have a 730 to 1460 day head start and a ton of money to finance their nefarious shenanigans during these intervals? Corruption rules and the Republic is in great danger - there's gotta be a better way.

I seem to recall a number of instances in which Tea Party people brought guns to political rallies. All quite legal, yes, but to my mind, bad judgment. Civil discourse can only take place when all concerned "check their six-guns at the door".

Times have changed. The stormtroopers who deploy in ever-increasing numbers, armed to the teeth to face down unarmed non-violent protesters, have violated both the basic social contract and the oath they have taken "To Serve And Protect". Perhaps it's time for others to bring their own pepper spray and whatever else will not offend their personal ethics or put them in legal jeopardy. Perhaps some feel the need for stronger protection. Let them look to their consciences and act as they see fit.

It is only a matter of time before a protester or protesters is killed. On that day, I hope for villagers with torches in the streets and if all that remains to us by then is "an eye for an eye", so be it. We did not start this fight. We must have the courage to, if need be, finish it.

What we have been seeing since then is the gradual consolidation of fascist power, literally the emergence of the Fourth Reich. The process accelerated radically after the defeat of the Soviet Union.

Though the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was never the workers' paradise it claimed to be, it was nevertheless the worlds only genuinely effective anti-fascist power.

What too many of us fail to understand is that capitalism -- infinite greed elevated to maximum virtue -- IS fascism, the methodical reversal of every humanitarian principle ever articulated. Hence the present-day reality of capitalist governance: absolute power and unlimited profit for the Ruling Class, total subjugation for all the rest of us.

Hence what we are oppressed by is nothing new. It is merely the 21st Century U.S. version of the governments led by Mussolini, Hitler, Pinochet, etc. ad nauseum.

And what we're witnessing now is but a dress rehearsal for the mass arrests that will begin after the election, the methodical enslavement of vast numbers of the 99 Percent in for-profit prisons and concentration camps.

This is the nightmare future we face. Those of us who have the opportunity to flee the country should begin making escape preparations immediately.

Lornbliss, in your comparison of Communism to our capitalist form of fascism fails to note that although communism was an effective form of anti-fascism, it also was an effective form of human suppression. It is not a simple case of worst of two evils, they are both evil on different levels.

I suggest that neither communism nor capitalist run governments offer any relief to the human spirit or freedom.

Freeman1776, you confuse Communism – economic democracy – with two mutations. The first is communism-under-attack – the fact the capitalists declared Russia an enemy from the moment the Bolsheviks won. The second is Stalinism – communism-under-attack intensified by the dark undertow of Russian history.

Surrounded by foes – the Persians of Herodotus' time; the Norse; the conquering Mongols (1240-1500); the Ottoman Turks; the warring Eastern European states of the post-Mongol chaos; ultimately Germany itself – Russia was indelibly shaped by struggle and geopolitical necessity: warm-water seaports; buffer-states to protect against further invasions; fierce rivalry for global commerce. Russia's development was also delayed by its vastness. Because its economy in 1917 was still mostly feudal agriculture, the Revolution faced two tasks: not just building democracy, but industrialization also.

In this context – particularly the relentless hostility of the capitalist world (including the 1918 invasion of Russia by the U.S., Britian, France and Japan) – the Stalinist mutation was probably inevitable.

But Communism never discarded its democratic intent – this in contrast to capitalism, which under Ayn Rand's influence no longer hides its fascist core. And Communism – unlike other socialisms – provides the ideological discipline essential to achieve democracy. For this reason it is our ONLY hope of relief.

Very interesting remark - Just one remark though:You say "...the Revolution faced two tasks: not just building democracy, but industrialization also."

Actually yes - a problem of its own making: Leninism was a brand of Marxism which itself was developed in industrialized Germany.For (Marxism-)Leninism to make any sense it needed an industrial proletariat, which there was not.Industrialization was for the sake of the production but also for ideological reasons.The corresponding depreciation of the farming proletariat (cf the demonization of the kulaks after the NEP was abolished by Stalin) were side effects of the same.

Interesting dialogue, Granny Weatherwax. Russia's belated industrialization was well underway when Alexander III began construction of the Trans-Siberian Railroad (c. 1890). Official embrace of Western European economic, industrial and urbanization dates to Peter the Great (1682-1725) and his successor Catherine the Great (1762-1796).

Russia's industrial proletariat, though smaller than Western Europe's, thus by 1917 had real power in the cities.

The Revolution began on International Women's Day when the 5000 women of the Lesnoy Textile Works struck to protest the firing of five union organizers. The women boiled into the streets chanting “Bread! Peace!” and were joined by 5000 men locked out by the nearby Putilov Machine Works. Soon the demonstration had swelled to at least 100,000 workers. Once it crossed the Neva into central Petrograd, the rest was history.

Stalin's “demonization of the Kulaks” was mainly provoked by the theocratic hostility of Russian Orthodox Christianity to Marxism. Note the (carefully disguised) religious violence that accompanied U.S. desegregation – the colloquial name for the Ku Klux Klan is “the Saturday night men's bible-study class” – and you'll glimpse a tiny fraction of what Marxian health workers and teachers encountered in rural Russia. Given Stalin's murderous personality, the horrific consequences were predictable.

A reasonably objective one-volume history of the 1917 Revolution is Moorehead's "The Russian Revolution." Others I'd recommend are Trotsky ("The History of the Russian Revolution"); Reed ("Ten Days That Shook the World") (of course!); any of Rabinowitch's books on the subject. Trotsky's “1905” and Weinberg's "The Revolution of 1905 in Odessa" are vital preludes.

For a glimpse of the Russian Civil War, Babel's short stories (“Red Cavalry”) and journal (“1920 Diary”) are probably without peer.

To understand the infinite debt we as Americans owe the Soviets for the freedoms we enjoyed from the end of World War II until the onset of political murder in 1963, read Grossman's “A Writer at War” and Merridale's “Ivan's War”; use Wirth's “Russia at War” as a general reference. Tarrant's “The Red Orchestra” describes the GRU network in Europe that – at great human cost – was pivotal in defeating the Axis. Konstantine Simonov's Stalingrad novel “Nights and Days” – if you can find it – proves even propaganda can be great literature.

Too bad the Axis' descendants have since triumphed, extinguishing the candle of U.S. freedom. But that is what makes these works so relevant. By outsourcing our industry – by reducing us to service-economy serfdom – the One Percent has imprisoned us in Moron Nation, the 21st Century variant of Russia's pre-revolutionary mindset...and Russian history can help us break free.

Fascism in America began at Malta in 1945 when FDR unwittingly made a devil's agreement with Arabia's King Ibn Saud to protect his reign in exchange for oil flows to support happy motoring in America.

End of USA status as a lending not a borrowing country. End of the comprehensive Railway network, "Guarantor Of Societal & Commercial Cohesion".

Now, the political insiders and wealthy are hoarding their money, fearful of events pushing America to motor fuel rationing. Take it from the original Hebraic Language Bible, if you prefer not to believe sobering assessment from the Institute For Strategic And International Studies.

Getting out of national debt requires separation from Middle East Oil as posited by Jimmy Carter, and Barry Commoner (The Politics Of Energy")in 1979

Though NSA '47 formed the Defense Department and the CIA -- and though building the Fourth Reich was surely among the prime motives of the Nazi war criminals who made up the CIA's core -- a fascist coup was not possible until the political murders during the 1960s and 1970s: JFK, Malcolm X, MLK Jr., RFK, Fred Hampton; Kent State; Jackson State; Pine Ridge; Karen Silkwood etc. ad nauseum. This violence terrorized the Left into submission.

As to when the underlying conspiracy began, obviously it was sometime before the Berlin/Wall Street collaboration of the 1934 Bankers Plot (Google).

And let us not forget persistent rumors FDR was poisoned by fascist conspirators. While I remain unconvinced, if true then 12 April 1945 is the proper date for the fascist takeover.

As to where to flee, were I younger and healthier -- I am 72, impoverished and in failing health (hence no other country would admit me as an immigrant) -- I would of course first consider Canada, where I have strong ancestral ties.

Though I love the United States for its land, people and its (alleged) ideals, almost any place in Europe is now infinitely more democratic. Indeed our great tragedy is that by every rational standard, the U.S. has become the most oppressed and oppressive nation in the entire industrial world.

You don't need to go that far.Feel free to come down here in Costa Rica and see how you like it.

As for the bankers conspiracy I am all with late Howard Zinn: Smedley Butler was a genuine US hero.For those who may have not read it yet, "A People's History of the United States" remains one of the few absolute "must read" books I have seen so far.

Apropos Zinn and Gen. Butler, I know a slightly different version. A couple of Lincoln Brigade veterans I knew in early adulthood said the conspiracy was infiltrated by Soviet intelligence. This was undoubtedly GRU – probably the most formidable intelligence agency in human history – as there was nothing about the Bankers' Plot in the KGB files made public after the Soviet defeat.

After one of the many hard-Left journals that served U.S. readers during the 1930s broke the story, Butler apparently realized he had been conned, and he publicly repudiated the plot. Then a reporter on one of the New York City dailies picked it up and – to use today's lingo – it went viral.

While I can't confirm the Soviet link, it makes historical sense. If true, not only had the Soviets saved FDR's presidency; they saved us from becoming part of Hitler's Axis. Which would surely explain why FDR trusted Stalin.

Apropos residency: alas despite years in NYC (my birthplace), also in the South plus army service in Korea, the onset of old age has stolen my former tolerance for tropical heat and humidity. Otherwise I'd seriously consider Cuba, about which see http://www.energybulletin.net/node/13171. What the linked report describes is a feat of collective survival that – given our Ayn Rand brainwashing – is forever beyond U.S. capability. Too bad the original, which included extensive photos, has vanished from the Net.

Please note that "Communism" is used indistinctly to designate the political and the economical paradigms.

Let's compare apples with apples.

The political side of communism as implemented in USSR, especially between the two world wars was every bit as cruel and unhuman (if less organized) as the Nazi political, Fascist system.Stalin's organized famines in the '20s killed an estimated 25 to 35 million people.

Communism as an economic paradigm, on the other hand, was much less successful as capitalism at generating riches but more successful at spreading it evenly.The best of both worlds is some sort of socialism, and no, socialism is not communism. François Hollande is not going to nationalize French people's houses.

For those who still doubt this dichotomy between political and economic communism, please have a look at China or Vietnam: both are profundly capitalistic yet both have communist political systems.

Yes, "What else is new?" America has been more than a fascist state since before fascism when you consider slavery and manifest destiny. At times I get a little bored with people's shock and amazement at the "fascist" police state the US has "become?"

You know what, I dislike the tea party as much as anyone. But there are other distinct difference between the tea party and the occupy movement. The tea party is not a civil disobedience movement. They had permits for every protest, did not occupy private property, cleaned up after themselves and never through rocks at police. Pretty big differences and if you were honest you would acknowledge them.

The Tea Party was also fronted by the big money of the 1% like the Koch brothers. As for cleaning up they sure did not do that when they went to Searchlight Nevada to protest Reid. They disrupted civil town hall meetings, openly carried guns (what would happen if just on was found on a single occupy person, a blood bath.)and challenged the police to arrest them for it.

That would be the whole point, wouldn't it, Chris? How far would the American Revolution have gone if Washington, Jefferson, Franklin, Adams, et al. vowed to first get permits, keep off private property, and never throw things at the British?

Furthermore, the tea party doesn't need to be disobedient. Its fascist goals are perfectly in sync with those of the GOP extremists merrily choking the life out of our democracy.

Tea partiers are the George Zimmerman of political movements: They posture themselves as volunteers serving a moral imperative; they are determined to protect our rights and freedoms, even as they demonize, stalk, and attack the very federal government that has made them possible. Like Travon Martin's killer, they defy calls for restraint, and with pride for the carnage they cause, piously claim to be the victims, acting in self defense.

You seem wildly confused. Carnage? Where? When? The peaceful gathering on the mall in DC? As for the Founding Fathers, the seeds of Revolution were originally sewn at church, discussing right and wrong and moral imperatives as to when to respect a government and what lines needed to be crossed to justify overthrowing that government. One of the few "riots" I know of was the Boston Tea Party, the rest was very well planned and executed armed resistance.Their pathway does not resemble OWS, that is more akin to the Russian Revolution or the French. Both very nasty compared to the American Revolution. Many of the people on whise backs the Bolsheviks grabbed power (from the Mensheviks trying to instill Democracy), were slaughtered afterwards on purpose. They were thought to be too unstable and violence prone to live. Kinda like the military putting doen the war dogs they train as unfit for civilian life. Read for yourselves.

Duh! The American revolution was not a revolution but an anti-colonialist war - a war of independance. The power it fought was across the pond, whereas both the French and Russian revolutions corresponded to local people uprooting local tyrants.The latter cannot be clean.Especially when the neighboring tyrants raise armies and invade to reinstate monarchy as was the case after the French revolution. Google up the Battle of Valmy.

On the other hand, the "well planned and executed armed resistance" would not have succeeded without LaFayette and the French naval blockade of Yorktown.

So please let us compare what is comparable.The American revolution was not a revolution, it was a war of independance.Well done, by the way!

Thanks for this article. Chicago was bad but it will get a lot worse. The police and fascists at Homeland Security still have not taken the gloves off. I'm old enough to have participated in the anti-Vietnam war protests. Then, the national guard was called out with fixed bayonets and loaded M-1 carbines to suppress the protesters. Violence did break out. Same with civil rights demonstrations. We are not there yet, but it is coming.

So - will our battle-hardened National Guard protect freedom and the republic by kicking the fascist's butts or not? Will they attack Americans - after seeing what they've seen and done? If so, what do they think it all stands, and what was it all, for?

The similarities between now and Chicago 1968 are pretty astonishing. I'm from Chicago & was on site alternating between Grant Park & McCarthy Headquarters at the Hilton. Let's just say it wasn't pretty!

As the government becomes more violent, so will the citizens! Eventually we will see a full blown revolution that will make the civil war look like a Sunday social!

I believe that within 20 years the citizens of the US will have enough of oppression and deception that they will rise up and go after not only the 1% but the lackeys who do their bidding... and especially those who hold elective office...there will be a well deserved slaughter...and it is inevitable that it will happen…

If 75,000 people showed up for a protest, that is a good beginning, imagine when millions take to the streets, those militarized police with their sound cannons will not have a chance …they underestimate the will of our people to remain free….and when the masses understand how the government has been in bed with the banks and the people who run them they will tear down wall street and paint it red with the blood of not only the bankers but our elected officials who have aided in their plunder!

John Locke..... you say "imagine when millions take to the streets, those militarized police with sound cannons will not have a chance".

The problem with that statement is by the time people get off their complacent asses and stop watching TV's, the laws will be in place to scare any citizen into becoming an activist. While most of America has been sitting watching the tube and attending sports functions and taking life at leisure, the elites have been shoring up their agenda with laws such as the Patriot Act, NDAA and other declarations forbidding the average citizen from even speaking out against its government lest they be arrested and thrown into one of the many FEMA camps and left to rot without anyone knowing even where they are.

So, I wouldn't count on the many numbers you anticipate, but I do count on the few who will in a clandestine way retaliate quietly behind the scenes similarly to the French Resistance in WW II.

Freeman1776: You may be right, maybe what I said was more wishful thinking, it only takes a few rebels like you say the French resistence fighters each occupied country had their own resistence movement, I suspect we will be no different...

Rahm Emmanuel not only planned and authorized the police tactics, but did so with the blessings of the White House. I also would suggest that Emmanuel's ascendency to his present position is not by accident an event that followed his helping thrust Obama into the office of the Presidency. Its a simple case of quid pro quo, and its Obam's turn for some payback to Emmanuel.

It is not simply corporate greed that is the motivating factor here, but the ELITE whom run the corporate structure. Its not simply about profits, its about power.

This process has been an ongoing project since the declaration of the Illuminati by Adam Weishaupt in 1776. Simply put, they, the Illuminati, the elite, have an agenda to control everyone everywhere. To implement this goal, they need to control money, media, government, military and police.

Have you noticed how this has now become a reality?

We are now a tyrannical state, not in theory, but in fact. The sooner we act on this, the better our chances are of defeating this global agenda. Just keep in mind, they have been at this for over 200 years, and we are only now becoming aware of our need to restore our freedoms and constitution.

The Tea Party is against NDAA and the undermining and subversion of the Constitution by EITHER/BOTH parties and is anti-globalist, anti-corporation mascarading as "people with rights", anti-totalitarian I ask you in earnest, why do you dislike them? Give me facts not brainless name calling. Seems you could join them in fighting globalists who want you as slaves. But that would require acknowledging traitors in BOTH parties.

For some reason, Tea Party events don't have hundreds of police surrounding them armed to the teeth. Could it be that the police are frightened by the arms that the TP-ers carry? Or could it be that the Tea Party is not a threat to power, but is actually a pawn of those with power.

Tea Party members and/or sympathizers disrupted and brought guns to town hall meetings and carried guns outside an Arizona venue where Obama was speaking. They carried malevolent signs, some of which sported Jefferson's words:"'Occasionally the tree of Liberty must be watered with the blood of Patriots and Tyrants." They weren't arrested or clubbed.

Dascher, you have taken the words out of my mouth. I have always questioned the speed with which the Tea Party was able to become established, and the fact that the Republican party has in some ways endorsed them, suggests that they may be part of a plan to pacify those of us seeking an alternative to current party choices.

I wouldn't be surprised that the TP may have already been infiltrated if not run by powers bent on deceptive methods to pacify the slowly waking public.

So, yes, the TP may in fact not be a threat to the establishment, and may even possibly be a diversionary tool.

Hundreds of thousands oa Americans are organizing for change. Of course any government can be toppled, overthrown, replaced; and there is an obvious need for drástic change, by most people. Many are sold on the propaganda, but, we all all suffering undér extreme tyrany. Along with mobilizing to orchestrate a balance of power, we need an agenda, a blues ring, a manifestó, something in writing that states, in unequivical terms, what we plan to replace the present régime with. It has to explicitly layout each Americans commitment to making sure every other American eats, etc. We can do it, but, looking at Árab Springs and other attempts at new, just governments, ,There is chaos, división and failure, everywhere. Every American is a potential, rightious, hero, when it comes to fighting Our obsolete, oppressive state, but, we must form/carefully articulate/have a real plan to implement, During and after the change. The present government has a fine list of rules for Democracy, it just falls short of administering Those rights. It's time, everyone, but, we have to di it right and on every street, in every neighborhood and every City, we must meet and plan. The loudist and fastest talkers are usually not the best leaders. If one person can't work, get an education, be clothed and sheltered, or get immediate medical care, we haven't succeded. Let's do it!

I hear many issues being bandied about.Most have some degree of validity.One common thread is fear and paranoia. This is exactly how society is divided and ultimately conquered.Each person has a somewhat different idea on exactly what is happening. Some think it's the Tea Baggers. Some think the baggers are puppets marched out by the 1% and fed corporate lies in an effort to further divide an already confused and sometimes apothetic electorate. It's ALL true.Question is, what to do. Violence begets violence.You push and they push harder. You shoot, they shoot in numbers. Lost cause. It substantiates what the 1% have been saying all along, that we're a bunch of uneducated savages itching for a fight.(part of that might be true too)What if somebody in each large city across the country were to buy space in the local newspaper and print the names of the congressmen and women who voted against NDAA in that district? Perhaps only a few people would see it, but just maybe it would get the attention of some media types long enough to get it online. We have to use the same clever methods of spreading the word we would use to sell the country a used car. After all, isn't that what the Tea Baggers are doing?? They're selling the country a bunch of crap but packaging it in lovely Roveian paper.Worst part the dumb ones are buying it.By the way, does anybody think it might be a good idea to put Karl Roves home address and phone number on twitter ???

There is a powerful force that's getting in the way of our thriving.It's a select group of financial elite who are centralizing material wealth and power for their own benefit, while destroying the lives of billions of others. Their worldview is riddled with fear and ignorant of the abundance of nature and interconnectedness that is our essence.Thrive - http://www.thrivemovement.com/the_movie is a free online movie that explains why our Energy, Food, Health, Rights, Education & Financial system are controlled. You can follow the money to see how the same people are gaining financially in every sector of human life. You can also see how an agenda for global domination is being accomplished, and the kind of deceptive strategies and tactics that are being used to further our suppression.It can be challenging to confront the cruelty of this global domination agenda, but it’s only by recognizing the true nature of the threats to our freedom that we can be empowered to act effectively. Its up to US to understand & take action - together...Thrive Movie> Bluffdale Spy Center - http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2012/03/ff_nsadatacenter/all/1

You guys throw around the words tyranny and fascism with absolutely no understanding of what those terms mean. It makes you sound churlish, ignorant, and immature.

Chris I think it is a matter of direction. Which way are we headed? Can we continue in the manner we have been? And if we do where will we be in 5 years time? I look at where we were in 2000 and where we are today. A lot has changed and little of it has been positive for the average person. More and more control in fewer and fewer hands. If that isn't a move toward fascism could you please tell us what it is? I am curious to see how you arrived at your conclusion?

You guys throw around the words tyranny and fascism with absolutely no understanding of what those terms mean. It makes you sound churlish, ignorant, and immature.

Chis999 ~ Once you have been arrested, handcuffed for 19 hours, and thrown in a jail without right to counsel or been denied bond SIMPLY for peacefully exercising your First Amendment rights, THEN talk to us about what you think we know about these terms.

I think those who have gone through this are stunned that this is happening in America, but no other words can be used for these authoritative actions than "fascist" and "tyranny," and it appears to be getting worse.

If calling armed PD in the streets attacking un armed citizens tranny I am callking it tyranny. If Arming civilian PDs with swat equipment ands armoured vehicles is organizing a military sytle command structure to be used against citizens, I will call that a form of "brown shirts" and to me that is facism... Having a government that continually dictates "because they can"...also a form of facism... Maybe the gas chambers have not been installed or used here...but there is not doubt this nation has been moving towards facism for 40 plus years... Our rights are being eroded. Every bureaucrat is so worried about thier jobs they are dotting every eye and crossing every t and making list...and that is a tenet of facism and total control.

Remember voting for 'change' in 2008? The simple fact is that very few will get elected without corporate support. The voice you want in Washington isn't there because no elected official can publicly embrace the change we all seek AND get elected. It is up to you. Only the people can put enough pressure on the system to make a difference. It is going to be a long summer.

Gibson's picture left out what the police were looking at. They would not have had to be there if the threat of violence was not present. Gibson's picture represents a lie, a lie that his supporters have chosen to buy into.

Since the Tea Party IS pro-fascism of course they are allowed to demonstrate. I fear for this country because so many of its citizens think we need a fascist state to keep us "secure!" The success of fear-mongering propaganda!

Are you OUT OF YOUR MIND CARL GIBSON .. comparing the Tea Party rally to the ORGANIZED VIOLENT BENT protests of the NEW Occupy anarchists?

Seriously .. THE ORIGINAL OCCUPY is dead and gone and replaced by the same group that fronts for Unions and SEIU with it's message of COME OUT AND START THE SOCIALIST/ COMMUNIST REVOLUTION.

The Tea Part is NOT pro fascism... it is ANTI-NAZI... ANTI-FASCISM .. PRO-CONSTITUTIONAL CONSERVATIVE ... and the majority of Tea Party is the MIDDLE and LOWER CLASS people who work for a living or are struggling to just get along .. or .. THE MAJORITY OF AMERICANS. They are not the MINORITY of Gays, Of Liberals, or of Splinter groups out to FUNDAMENTALLY CHANGE AMERICA into some SOCIALIST UTOPIA.

SO again .. Carl Gibson wrote the dumbest article in the world or he is in on the SCAM! Yeah... it is a scam .. especially when you look at the big picture and see how it all fits together...

If you can't see that the NEW OCCUPY is funded by George Soros through THE TIDES foundation, or that SEIU is the surrogate of Obama and his socialist program .. or that this new organization sent messages for police to be out in force because they were told violence was planned for this event .. you are a bigger fool than CARL GIBSON who wrote this article.

Seriously .. Look at all the pieces and how they fit together ... Once you figure out why there is DIVISION and VIOLENCE ... who profits from it financially or profits from it politically ... you now have a sense of who is pulling the strings...(and it ain't the average citizen, the average Democrat, Liberal, or Republican.)

It is better to be a closed mouth fool... and think that you know what is going on inside the bubble then to open one's mouth and remove all doubt....

and to call someone a Big Mouth Fool for writing an article for exposing this abuse is the same as some said... the 85 year old grandmother who the police sprayed half a can of pepper spray deserved it because she was there.

Oh yes I can see the light.....

I guess the police will start spraying small children and babies next... and then saying that they were there illegally without a permit.

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